Of Smart Mouths and Brunettes
by DancingWhentheStarsGoBlue
Summary: Saving the world. Easy as pie, am I right? Well its not-so-much when we have a President's pet Barbie tagging along. And why does the flock even like her? Her and her happy future crap. I might just have to "accidentally" drop her over the Rockies. Huh...
1. Chapter 1

The President's office was just like we had seen it in on the Internet, all filled with expensive paintings and leather furniture. Underneath said furniture was the Presidential Seal woven into the light beige carpet. Red and blue curtains hung in front of huge windows with golden tassels attached at the edges.

I felt very American just standing there.

Our new friend Mr. President had taken a very professional-looking position at his huge desk and was watching us with expectant eyes. The flock made no move to sit on the plush couches, or to grab up any of the tiny brownies on the glass coffee table. And let me tell you, that's restraint if I've ever seen it. No matter how trusting the President of the United States may be, we still have that annoying paranoia wired into our DNA, and it never, ever seemed to be very lenient.

Not even for mini brownies.

"Um, just a question. If we've already agreed to this whole 'protect the world for the sake of the United States and all of its advasaries' thing, why aren't we out there doing it?" I asked him from my position on the back wall.

"Oh, don't worry, Maximum." the President chuckled, "You will be soon enough. I just wanted to introduce you to someone." he smiled proudly. I nodded solomnly, but was getting seriously impatient on the inside. We didn't have time for some congressman or Secretary of State! We were _supposed _to be saving the world, remember?

The door opened, and all eight of us--the flock plus Total plus the Pres--looked up. A young girl, who looked about my age or a little older, waltzed through the doorway, followed by two stiff security guards. At first I thought she was just lost, like she had picked the wrong door in a one-in-a-million chance, but she surprised me by walking straight up to the President's desk, grabbing a bottle of water and one of the brownies on her way there.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." the girl spoke very confidently for someone who was in the presence of her country's leader. She hopped up and took a seat smack on top of his desk. _The President's famous desk! _

I was preparing myself for an angry glance from the President and his immediate call for security when he smiled happily at her and stroked her shiny cascade of thick, dark brown hair. She calmly took a bite of brownie and crossed her legs.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet Katherine Moore." the President announced. "She's quite a remarkable child, aren't you, Kitty?" he smiled at her like a proud father. Kitty smiled and unscrewed the top of her water bottle in response. I eyed her suspiciously.

"And these are the fugitives." Kitty glanced at us from her perch on the desk and laughed once, hopping down and moving toward us fluidly. "I've heard _so_ much about you." she said. I glanced over at Fang, hoping to see my lack of trust mirrored in his eyes. Instead he was watching Kitty walk over, his eyes locked on the way her hips moved in time with the swing on her silky hair.

Great. Another reason to not like her.


	2. Chapter 2

I refused to shake little Miss Perfection's hand. You may call that rude, but I call it making a statement. I wanted to show my flock just how little affection I was going to give her and hoped they would do the same. Kitty's dark eyebrows had pulled up slightly, but she managed a smooth face overall. I was actually kinda disappointed, but I was just waiting for the rest of the flock to get a rouse out of her.

Epic fail to say the least.

Angel hopped right onto the butt-kiss bandwagon. "You're pretty," she gushed once Kitty had taken her hand in hers. Kitty laughed and patted Angel's golden curls. "Thank you very much. You're awfully pretty yourself."

Angel was still beaming at her when she moved to Nudge, who smiled as broadly as possible and agreed with Angel's statement. I scowled.

Iggy was taking shallow breaths, stirred by the mental image Fang had given him by his description. Sexist pig.

"And you're blind?" Kitty asked, softly running a finger below Iggy's right eye. Iggy shuttered happily in response, and Kitty grabbed his hand to shake it. "But I hear you're pretty creative with explosives." she smiled.

"Hey, so am I!" the Gasman spoke up, almost jumping up and down to get Kitty's attention. She laughed and tousled his hair.

"Yeah, you too." she told him with a smile. And then her gaze shifted over to Fang, who had been silently surveying the situation the entire time. And by "surveying the situation" I mean watching Kitty with the eyes of a sleek predator who had recently landed in Hormone Land. I felt like I was going to puke.

Kitty stared at him with her huge amber eyes for a moment, and then she made a face of mock agitation; her eyebrows pulled together and her lips pursed slightly. "Someone's not happy to see me." I almost laughed, realizing she was making fun of Fang. Hoo, she was in for it now.

"And what makes you think that?" Fang asked in his usual soft tone. Kitty smiled slightly at him and bit the tip of her bottom lip.

"You must be the quiet one. Fang, right?" she asked. Fang nodded at her in response. Kitty scrunched her button nose and made a small smile, gesturing to his folded arms. "Am I allowed to shake your hand, or will you kill me in my sleep?" she joked.

To my surprise, Fang grinned slightly while the rest of the flock tittered at the severe likeliness of that actually happening. Fang gave her one of his hands, and she had to use both of hers to shake it; his practically swallowed her hands whole. She sent him a wistful glance and returned to her spot on top of the President's desk. He patted her knee once she made herself comfortable, and looked back to us.

"Now, you must all be wondering why I introduced her to you." he said, looking at me meaningfully. Probably because I was mean to his precious pet. Whatever. But he was spot on with that, and I was ready to get out of here, away from Kitty and her smiles, her perfection and her bold looks at Fang.

When we didn't answer, the President continued. "It has been decided that Kitty shall resign her post here, at the White House, and travel with you all in order to restore order to the world."

"What?!" I accidentally blurted. My flock looked at me in surprise, even Iggy. Kitty pursed her lips at me for a long second, in which I tried to shoot laser at her with my eyes--another special power that would have been nice at the time--and then took a swig of her water.

Angel tugged on my t-shirt. "She can help, Max."

Somehow I highly doubted that.

The President sighed once, and opened his mouth, probably to persuade me into taking her in. But Kitty held up her palm suddenly, and her eyes focused blankly, seeming to shimmer around the edges before going flat. Everyone was still on an unspoken command until finally Kitty blinked and shook her head.

She turned around and leaned toward the President, murmuring something that sounded like, "There's about to be a pretty big protest outside. I'm thinking about an hour, hour and a half, with about two hundred or so animal lovers wanting to abolish that anti-dog-beach law you made a few weeks ago."

"What kind of protest?" the President asked softly.

"Picket signs, chants, maybe even a sit-in. They keep changing their mind about that one, though." she answered surely.

Um, was I missing something? Glancing around at the flock, they seemed just about as confused as I did. Except Angel. Of course she'd be in on the entire story. Darn her and that mind-reading ability.

The President pressed a button on the tiny speaker sitting on his desk and repeated the issue to security. A gruff voice told the President they were on it and the line went blank.

"You see," the President said suddenly, tapping a pen on his desk. "Kitty here is a valuable asset to this mission. You _need_ her." he looked up at the youth on his desk admiringly. Kitty was reading the label on her water bottle, pretending to not know we were talking about her.

"Oh really? So she can sit around on her butt and watch us for you?" I asked angrily. I was sure she was a spy; why else would he send her with us?

"No," the President said patiently. Kitty actually looked up at me then, cocking her head to the side and smiling. "Its because she can see the future."


	3. Chapter 3

Max didn't like me, that I was sure of. Even from the get-go I was perfectly nice to her, and despite everything I had heard and _seen _about her I was going to give her a chance. But nooo, she wanted to be all "let's be mean to the new girl just because I don't want her to join my family because I'm the leader and we don't have room for her here and she might like Fang and the truth is that I'm secretly in love with him so she can't be allowed near him and the kids like her and I might lose them and she doesn't have wings which just makes a big complication for us ecetra, ecetra..." for no apparent reason.

Well, actually, if we were getting technical, I just gave a super long reason. But you know what I'm getting at, right?

"Don't worry, she'll come around." next to me, little Angel patted my knee soothingly. I smiled down at her sadly. I had almost forgotten that the six-year old could read minds, a fact that wasn't as freaky as it should be. But really, people._ I see the future_. I'm used to the weirdness.

I nodded at her and leaned back in my seat. We were all crammed into a tiny jet plane, heading toward Arizona. Why six kids who had wings and were perfectly capable of flying there were on a plane was a mystery to me. But whatever floats their boat, I guess.

I turned to look out into the two-foot wide isle, scooping out the rest of the kids just to see what was going on. That's me, nosy to the extreme but always in the know. It's a win-win. Anyway, there were only two seats in the entire passenger area and they held three each, though we had cramped four into mine. I was sitting with little Angel, Nudge and the Gasman, who was currently sound asleep against the circular window. Across from us was Iggy, Fang and Max. I didn't see the point of the three biggest kids jammed into one seat, but Max had been head of that decision and was adamant that Fang was to sit with her, since she was super protective of her not-so lover, and that Iggy was there because he had spent the thirty minutes prior to the flight being quite friendly. To say it in a nice way.

And of course Max didn't even want to breath the same air as me, so that was a done deal before she had even thought it over. I sighed softly and layed my head back against the black leather. My hand automatically went the small, black bundle in my lap and I stroked the soft fur more to comfort myself than anything else. Total stretched out his legs and yawned, and then went straight back to sleep.

Without warning, my vision began to shimmer around the edges, blurring everything around me until it was nothing but complete blackness. As soon my sight disappeared, another image appeared. It was a grassy area somewhere, like a backyard of a suburban house. Trees lined the edge of the yard, and the sun was casting their long shadows across the yard; it was about five o'clock, then. Front and center were two people, very familiar although we had just met. One was tall and lean in stature, and the other just as well of if not a little more soft. The first one, I recognized from the striking looks and dark hair, was saying something with a slight upturn of his lips. Across from him, a scowling blonde made an angry face, squared off, and punched him smack in the nose.

Everything shimmered again, and I could make out the shapes of the interior of the plane again. I blinked once to clear my eyes and then furrowed my brows. I heard Angel giggle into her palm quietly; she had surely seen everything, since she was more focused on my mind than the others. I smiled at her, just because she found humor in the situation.

"Um, Max?" I turned toward the other seat with questioning eyes. Three sets of eyes stared back at me: calm, dark ones; milky gray ones; and irritated brown ones. "Is there any reason you would be punching Fang anytime soon?" I asked sincerely. I was fighting to keep my face straight, but then Iggy burst into laughter and I lost it along with him.


	4. Chapter 4

Angel was sitting on the front porch steps with Total, watching as the trees were slowly being lit up by the rising sun. Everyone else was still asleep, minus Max, Fang and Kitty. Max was awake because, duh, she's the leader; Fang is just Fang and probably hadn't gotten any sleep in the first place; and then Kitty, who Angel had taken the liberty of waking up at the crack of dawn so that she could show her the sunrise.

Long story short, Kitty was not a morning person and got only a glimpse through her bedroom window before pulling up the covers and going back to sleep. Well, not really. Angel was still hearing her thoughts loud and clear, not at all tainted by the blurriness of sleep.

_I'm hungry,_ a thought came from inside the house. The Gasman, of course. Angel could hear his feet scuffle along the wooden floors and into the kitchen where her would no doubt ask Max to make him breakfast. Too bad for him, Max and Fang had taken off earlier for an early morning flight. He had obviously discovered this soon after, because his next thought was _Aw, man. Now I gotta wake up Iggy. _There was more scuffling as the Gasman went back into the bedrooms.

"Angel, do you think Max is right?" Total asked out of the blue. Angel looked at him, confused. "About Kitty, I mean. You think she really is evil?"

Angel thought about his question for a moment. Normally, Angel would be all over Max's words like flies on honey. But she just believed that Max was actually wrong this time--but please, don't tell Max that! Besides, its kind of impossible to lie to a mind reader. Angel turned her attention towards Kitty and her thoughts, just to check.

_Someone should let the person who thought up counting sheep how dumb they really are. Sheep, geez. Well, I guess they had the right idea. Maybe if it was something better, cuter. Like penguins, for example. I can do that. One penguin, two penguin...okay, maybe not. _

"No, she's perfectly harmless. Trust me." Angel rolled her eyes. The only way Kitty could be evil was if she started a band of sheep-hating protesters and rallied them against farms across the nation. And Angel highly doubted that.

Max and Fang landed near the trees with a muted thud just then, and Angel smiled at them in welcome. Fang went straight into the house, giving both and Angel and Total a pat as he passed them, but Max sat down and leaned up against the railing nearest them. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Morning, glory." the three of them heard Fang say with mock elation. They all turned in sync to face the doorway, where Kitty was half-standing, half-falling over. Bleary-eyed and looking kind of lost, she walked out onto the porch and sank down right where she was. Fang chuckled to himself and shut the door behind her.

"Do you guys always wake up this early?" she asked them. It was hard to tell what she was saying; her words were still layered thick with sleep. Angel chanced a look over at Max. She still had her eyes closed, but her face was tight with suppressed hostility.

"Well when you have to save the world from immanent destruction, its not exactly wise to wake up at noon. But, knowing you and you're perfect little universe, I'm sure that fact didn't even cross you're mind." Max was shaking her head slowly while she spoke. Kitty nodded once, too tired to retort.

_Does she ever give it a break? _Kitty thought clearly. Angel gave her a sideways glance, and moved her head slightly to the left, then to the right. Kitty made a face and thought, _of course not._

"Why are you awake, anyway?" Max asked her. Kitty didn't answer for a moment, just smiled at Angel.

"The sun rose to early for me to witness and then the sheep and the penguins just weren't working out well." Kitty twisted her mouth as to not smile, but Angel giggled.

"Because that makes so much sense." Max mumbled. "Why don't you just go away and let us have some peace with our _family_." she opened her eyes, and looked Kitty dead in the eyes, probably wanting to see how much that would hurt her. Kitty lost her cool facade for a moment there, and there was the tiniest bit of sadness showing in her amber eyes.

"Look, Max, I know you don't like me." Kitty began slowly, repositioning herself so that she was sitting on her knees. Her face was alert and awake suddenly, and her eyes bore into Max's with deep feeling.

"Really? What could have given you that idea?" Max rolled her eyes, and looked out toward the yard. It looked like she was just brushing Kitty off, but Angel saw the true reason in her thoughts: she actually felt guilt for being so mean. Huh, who knew?

Kitty laughed once humorlessly. "Just get over it already. Its only a matter of time before we become friends."

Max scoffed, and her eyes became incredulous and sarcastic. The guilt was gone, and Max was back on her game.

"Really, Max." Kitty said with wide eyes as to convince her. It wasn't likely, but why tell her that? Kitty leaned forward, so that she was only a few inches away from Max. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "_I've seen it._" she smiled confidently, hopped up, and sauntered into the kitchen.

Max looked at Angel with an irritated, shaken expression. She didn't have to read her mind to see the question there. Angel shrugged and looked out onto the yard, now almost entirely lit by the sun.

Kitty was telling the truth, but Angel wasn't going to be the one to confirm it. She'd like to keep her head, if she possibly could.


End file.
